THE UK’s largest independent provider of telecommunications for business is planning to hire 125 more staff.

Hampshire-based Onecom says a recruitment drive will increase its headcount by almost a third after it secured £100million of investment earlier this year.

Onecom says two two-thirds of the new jobs will be created in its sales team and will be spread across its eight offices, with a particular focus on its Whiteley head office, Telford, Shoeburyness in Essex and Cardiff.

Launched 17 years ago, the company employs almost 400 people across its regional offices.

Earlier this year, it secured £100m from the mid-market private equity firm LDC and credit funds managed by an affiliate of Ares Management Corporation, to help support organic growth and acquisition.

Its leadership team aims to grow the business threefold over the next three to five years.

Its chief executive, Ben Dowd, said: “We currently have 100,000 business customers and are exceptionally well placed to take advantage of the new opportunities in front of us, including the roll-out of 5G, adoption of fibre connectivity and the growing expenditure on telecommunications from SMEs.

“Increasing our headcount is key to us achieving this.

“This represents a significant moment of organic growth for Onecom, and we are also finalising plans for acquisitive growth in the coming months,” Mr Dowd added.

Parysa Hosseini-Sech, head of human resources at Onecom, said: “In an uncertain marketplace, our commitment to our growth plans and our people remains strong.

“Onecom’s consistent success can be entirely attributed to the talent and hard work of our people.

“We’re excited about adding more exceptional employees to the business as we continue to move forwards.”

Onecom’s high profile customers include Farrow & Ball, Thwaites, Celtic Manor and 118 UK and its partners include Samsuing, Apple, Gamma, Mitel and Virtual1. It has doubled its revenues in the past five years.

It is also a major partner of Vodafone and earlier this year, the two announced a five-year deal worth up to £600m in revenue.

At the time the £100m funding package was announced, the company also revealed a new chairman, Mark Thompson. Darren Ridge, who founded the business in 2002, became a non-executive director and remains a significant shareholder.

LDC’s London head Yann Souillard became a non-executive director.

Onecom this year scooped the Best Customer Service Award at the Mobile News Award, beating the likes of O2 and Sky Mobile.

It also collected the Fundraising Charity Partnership of the Year Award for firms with more than 50 staff at a corporate awards evening hosted by Hampshire’s Countess Mountbatten Hospice this year.